If you live in the U.S. and use U.S. coins, then a penny is something you’ve probably
seen a lot. But you only pay attention to certain attributes of the penny, for instance, its
color and size. These are what psychologists call “salient cues.” You only pay attention to
what you need for the task at hand. Although there’s a lot of detail on the penny, a lot of
cues, the salient ones for most people are color and size. If you’re a coin collector, then
the salient cues are different. Salient cues for a coin collector might include the date,
wording, or particular pictures.